Division Day
Beartrap Island
2007 | Eenie Meenie
You
hear that? It’s the sound a band exhaling from over a year of toe
tapping, nail biting, and screaming into pillows. But now that all the
weight has been lifted Division Day prove once again
that their music has staying power by shattering that boulder of
anxiety into 14 tightly wound tracks. The album is loaded with angular
guitar chords and blasts, stabbing synths, and a muscular rhythm
section. Beartrap Island also throws in a few new added songs that are arguably the band’s most driving and tense moments.
The
record starts off with a sustain-heavy guitar line, the title track,
and bursts into a new addition entitled “Ricky”. Pulsating with needles
of synth this song demands to be played on alternative radio formats
everywhere; can we get a video too? Division Day never specifically
focus on one instrument as the main event either. Instead, they utilize
their collected talent to write catchy hooks that are intricate and
full of bright melodies. The gripping rhythms and soaring vocals on
“Lights Out” and “To The Woods” seize your attention because there are
so many great parts to listen to within each verse or chorus.
“Colorguard” contrasts the quartet’s pop bombast with a dreamier and
stark feel. And the anticipating feedback on “Tap-Tap, Click-Click”
displays real power within a super-catchy tune, as equally satisfying
as “Ricky”. Did I mention I liked “Ricky”?
Beartrap Island is one of the most complete and cohesive sounding albums from any L.A.
artist, pick any city for that matter, I’ve heard all year. Rather than
sounding derivative or exhausted, the album is longer than normal, the
sounds and arrangements manage to keep the listener engaged at every
turn.
-Scott McDonald
Liars
Liars
2007 | Mute
Liars are a band that like to shift their styles of music as much as they can
get away with. In fact, listening to lead singer/guitarist Angus
Andrew, I can picture him chameleon-lizard like sticking a spiked
tongue out while chanting falsettos in an abandoned warehouse
somewhere. In keeping with their array of post-punk musical numbers,
Liars again puts forth a misfit group of tracks that range from
Psych-pop to industrial noise. The opening track "Plaster Casts Of
Everything" off the new self-titled album by Liars struck me as a song
that would be perfect for any new slasher horror movie out in theatres
right now. The pounding drums and metal heavy guitar riffs are
thunderous, however it's probably not the most accurate description of
the rest of the album. Liars actually has a more psychedelic,
shoe-gazer quality that shows prominently in songs like "Pure Unevil"
and "Cycle Time". "Freak Out" is their most accessible number,
somewhere between Jesus and Mary Chain and Gang of Four. It has that
dance quality to it that seems to poke its head up at points on the
album, but without the goofy effect.
There are moments when the
"noise" aspect of the band overpowers the album though. "Leather
Prowler" and "The Dumb in the Rain" both feel too heavy and almost a
bit hard to listen to. However, for the track "What Would They Know",
that same heaviness is made more melodic, and feels like a Bauhaus
song. Perhaps they were trying to balance out the less accessible
tracks by having these radio friendly ones. Regardless, in doing so,
Liars created an album that strives to be dark and yet poppy, creating
a middle ground that can be enjoyed by a wider audience. I'd recommend
"Freak Out", "Cycle Time" and "Clear Island".
-Elana Rintala
(Looking for something similar? Try these bands: Gang of Four, Sonic Youth, and the Raveonettes)
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